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March 12 • 2015
JN
will be forever grateful to the
late Rabbi Efry Spectre, one of
my beloved predecessors at Adat
Shalom Synagogue, for introducing
me to the works of the late Rabbi
Abraham Joshua Heschel.
I was an undergraduate at the
University of Michigan in the early
1980s. Rabbi Spectre gave a class at
the Hillel House on Heschel. I was
intrigued and started reading Heschel
on my own. His work spoke to me in
a deep and profound way. It fueled my
interest in becoming a rabbi and still
influences me to this day.
One of Heschel's great
teachings centered on
Shabbat, and how it was
one of the great contribu-
tions of Judaism to the
world, not just in having
a day of rest but in think-
ing about what mattered
most in our lives, and how
we could be partners with
God in creating beauty
and meaning in the world.
This is what Heschel
wrote about Shabbat: "The meaning of
the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather
than space. Six days a week we live
under the tyranny of things of space;
on the Sabbath we try to become
attuned to holiness in time. It is a day
on which we are called upon to share
in what is eternal in time, to turn from
the results of creation to the mystery
of creation, from the world of creation
to the creation of the world:'
This approach to Shabbat is key
in understanding our Torah portion.
It begins, "Moses then convoked the
whole Israelite community and said
to them: These are the things that the
Lord has commanded you to do: On
six days work may be done, but on the
seventh day you shall have a Sabbath
of complete rest, holy to the Lord;
whoever does any work on it shall be
put to death. You shall kindle no fire
throughout your settlements on the
Sabbath day:' (Exodus 35:1-3).
The rest of the reading is a detailed
description of the Tabernacle and
the articles of the priesthood. Why
is Shabbat juxtaposed with the con-
struction of the place where God's
presence will dwell with the Israelites?
As Heschel indicates, time is just as
sacred as place. Without creating
sacred time, a place cannot be holy. It
will just be a building.
I talk to a lot of couples about the
kind of home they are establishing. I
tell them the single most important
factor in the happiness of their home
is whether they make sacred time for
each other. This means that they give
the best of what they have to each
other on a regular basis and
not just the dregs that are left
after a long week of work. A
vacation to the fanciest place
a week or two a year cannot
make up for a lack of qual-
ity time spent together on a
regular basis.
Even a modest home
becomes a palace when
people who say they love each
other spend time in a relaxed
and happy way. Our homes
become like the Holy of
Holies of the Tabernacle and Temple.
This is why Shabbat is such a gift.
Every week we know that we will have
a good day. That is rare in our tense
and stressful times. We light candles,
have a good meal and express our
appreciation for all the great good in
our lives.
Heschel said, "With our bodies we
belong to space; our spirit, our souls,
soar to eternity, aspire to the holy. The
Sabbath is an ascent to the summit:'
Thanks to Shabbat, no matter where
we are, we can create a place of beauty
and joy.
❑
Aaron Bergman is a rabbi at Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
Conversations
• Why does this Torah portion
have so many details about the
construction of the Tabernacle,
but so few about Shabbat?